How Conservative is Princeton

Butterfly18
Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:48:05 +0000

I find it interesting that with all this talk of marriage no one has gone to the origins of marriage according to Judeo-Christian belief: how God the Creator planned for marriage, not how people through-out history (even in later Bible passages) chose to alter God’s plan with their own practices. If you are taking a historical view, than Genesis needs to be included.

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.

[By giving Adam this opportunity to name the animals and see each had a male and female; Adam began to desire a mate as well. This was God’s intent for Adam from the beginning. God planned to fill his need]

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs] and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib ] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.


23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman, ’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

[Obvious reference to the future as there are no mothers or fathers at this time. One Flesh: emotionally, physically etc…=Marriage]

25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Genesis 2:15-24

Just another perspective… Some people view marrigae as something God initiated, rather than man initiated. Having that view-point then, which they are entitled to have, frames their thinking about marriage in our society today.